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2006
CLW LEADERSHIP ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR WOMEN
The Australian virtual Centre for Leadership for Women (CLW)’s Leadership Achievement Award was established in 2005 to recognise women in the community who use their own initiative to create and implement projects for the benefit of the community and in collaboration with the community. These individuals are recognised by CLW as Self-Appointed Leaders. This Award is unique in that it is a nation wide award for women who take on voluntary leadership roles in the community. The Leadership Achievement Award was free and open to all Australian women 18 years and above. It was sponsored by Fernwood Women's Health Club, motherInc.com.au and Living Now Magazine. Hélène
Gonski is the Winner of the 2006 CLW Leadership Achievement Award for Women.
Mrs Gonski is being recognised for what she achieved on a grand scale in
relation to raising and working on the issue of grandparenting, that up till
then had not been given any mainstream focus. Hélène's efforts extended
over more than a decade and it was at her instigation that COTA (NSW) first took
up the issue of grandparenting which subsequently gained support at both the
state and national level. In addition to establishing practical support for
grandparents through the Grandparenting Association, Hélène advanced the
issues with policy makers and wrote two informative books, Grandparenting: a
new challenge and A Gong for Grandfathers. The two
Finalists for the Award are Melanie Mumford and Louise Bannister. Melanie
Mumford's vision was to influence change in refugee and asylum seeker policy by
sending a clear message that Australians support the fair treatment of refugees.
She achieved this vision by persuading the Bass Coast Shire Council to declare
the Bass Coast Shire a ‘Refugee Welcome Zone’. Melanie Mumford is twenty-one
years old. Louise Bannister as the Award's Finalist is being recognised for
creating the six month Well
and Able program that aimed to be an inclusive, fun, affordable fitness and
social inclusion program in the form of a weekly fitness class with an
individual program developed for each woman followed by social activities.
Well and Able is the first project of its kind in Further
information about the above candidates can be accessed through
www.leadershipforwomen.com.au via the What’s New page. Christina
Borisavljevic, Mary Hollingworth and Kathryn Keen are the Award's
Short-listed Applicants. Ms Borisavljevic
is being recognised for establishing a Counselling and Support Service in
Boambee East, NSW where she together with others, provide free counselling for
members of the community and the disadvantaged. Mary Hollingworth is being
recognised for reviving the Glen Innes Show Society Ladies Auxiliary committee
of forty-five years standing and achieving outstanding outcomes for the
catering/hospitality needs of the Show. Kathryn Keen is being recognised for
providing an online Ozark and Ozbird communications and information network for
wildlife carers across CLW
congratulates all of the above candidates as their achievements demonstrated a
high level of engagement, caring and personal investment for the community for
which they were trying to achieve an improved vision. Each area of concern
and activism deserves strong recognition by government, the private sector and
the community, and greater support than exists at present. In
attracting candidates with such an impressive calibre of achievements, this
Award testifies that grassroots
self-appointed leadership by women is alive in the community, but is in need of
much more government and private sector support so that the women behind them
are assisted to continue their role or create new leadership ventures that
fulfill a need in the community. The Panel of Judges who were involved with this Award were Dr Jocelynne Scutt, Barrister & Executive Producer, Former Anti-Discrimination Commissioner of Tasmania & Executive Producer; Dr Shirley Randell AM United Nations Project Implementation Specialist for the Capacity Building for Gender Mainstreaming Project in Bangladesh; Carmelita Steinke, Director 2VoxFM, Radio & Media Specialist; Carolyn Leigh, Senior Project Manager, Communities Division, NSW Department of Community Services and Dr Lynette Dumble, Founder and Director of Global Sisterhood Network. The 2007
CLW Leadership Achievement Award for Women will be sponsored by NRMA Motoring
& Services. The Award will be open for applications from 1 September
2006 to 22 December 2006. Further information about the Award will be announced
at CLW closer to the time. |